Muntakhab al-lubab 108.1

108.1

[Text, vol. ii. p. 459.] The daring inroads of the Mahrattas brought Aurangzeb to the resolution of waging a holy war against them, and of reducing the fortresses which were their homes and defences. His camp had now remained at Islampuri four years, and fine mansions and houses had been built there, so that a new city had sprung up, and men thought they would never move far away. Orders were given for throwing up earthworks round the place, and the officers and men worked so well that in fifteen or twenty days a defence was raised which might have occupied six or seven months. The Nawab Kudsiya Zinatu-n Nissa, sister of Prince Muhammad A'zam Shah, and mother of Muhammad Kam Bakhsh, with other ladies of the royal household, were left there under the charge of Jamdatu-l Mulk Asad Khan. Orders were also given that all amirs and officers should leave their wives and families and property behind. The people belonging to the royal establishments were also to remain. Strict orders were also given that no ahadi should take his wife or children with him, Great stress was laid upon this order, but in the marches and campaigns of Hindustan such orders could not be enforced without resorting to such punishments as the Princes of the House of Timur held to be inconsistent with their sense of justice. So the order was not obeyed as it ought to have been. On the 5th Jumada-l awwal the army marched towards the fort of Basant-garh, and in twenty days it arrived at Murtaza-abad, or Mirich.